Day 56: Main Street

[mustbethesuit]

After extricating himself from Harvey's company, Peter found himself at an utter loss for what to do. He drifted away from the park (too cold for that), munching on his breakfast muffin and searching out some place where $15 might be useful. The coupon pack was about as helpful as it had ever been. He wandered past Pearl's Prettification Parlour,

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[poorexample]

The bus ride had turned out to be more about giving information than receiving it, but Castiel thought that he had handled Orihara's questions well and he continued to tell himself that it would be worth the time put into it if he was eventually taught how to pick a lock. He realized that wouldn't solve all of his problems by a long shot, but it was one step forward, which was far better than one step back.

However, his thoughts about progression through the institute were forgotten when the view of the town finally became clear. It was small -- smaller than the smallest towns that he'd gone to with the Winchesters -- and covered in snow. Castiel had never made it a habit to simply wander through towns and shops looking for things, but he was going to have to now.

With only five dollars, he realized he wouldn't be able to buy much, but perhaps some tools for picking locks would be the most prudent choice. He also noticed that there was a coupon he'd been given for a place called "Tasty Burger," so he would definitely need to look into that once lunchtime came. It seemed that there would be little point in assuming they would be served any red meat at the institute for now on, after all.

He wished he had thought to ask Orihara about what to buy before they had parted ways, but there was no reason to dwell. Castiel could hardly focus on his own shortcomings when there was so much to see, anyway. The first thing he caught sight of was a bookstore, though he wasn't certain it would have the sort of lore he would be looking for. There was a toy store next to that, but Castiel had no reason to go there.

He was starting to wonder if there was anything that would be of interest to him (the book store he could come back to later, perhaps) when he spotted the Tasty Burger mentioned on that coupon. He knew that eating now would be a waste since he felt no hunger, however, and so he merely paused to remember the look and location of the building for later.

[For Gabriel.]

[affictitious]

So Gabriel was surprisingly okay with this whole... not getting anything done ever schtick, mostly because "not getting anything done ever" was synonymous with not dying (again). That was kind of the whole fate (oh, hah hah) he was trying to avoid. Man, it really brought an angel down to actually have to put effort into being wary. He figured this second chance had to be for something above getting eaten by a monster. Thing. Like maybe stopping the Apocalypse.

Riiiight. He should really get on that, except he did his part and no one remembered.

His awakening was totally uninteresting, even if it involved a new change of clothes (ratty, in his opinion, and not exactly the kind of thing he'd pick out of a Goodwill given half the chance, anyway. A scarf. A scarf. What was he, the Sassy Gay Friend? If anything, the Winchesters needed a friend who killed them a hell of a lot more often. Maybe frequency would instill some kind of respect or something. Frequency that was above the low hundreds.

Not that he was their friend. Not what he was implying at all.

The only thing worth it was a scrap thrown to him in the form of coupons. Life was low for archangels nowadays. His blade had reverted back to a freaking pipe and he was salivating at the chance of eating anything that wasn't pink and half-digested. A big, booming five bucks. He couldn't even buy a proper dessert with that. This whole humanity thing could shove it. Seriously.

For once in his impossibly long existence, Gabriel took the opportunity of the bus ride to remain silent. He sure was totally excited about the opportunity to run about Bumfuck, New Jersey. The first face off the bus was his brother, and - well, needlessly he felt the need to pop up by his side, following his thousand yard stare off into the distance. Tasty Burger, huh. He was surprised Castiel wasn't creaming himself.

"Next time, we try outside. At least then we could've had honest fun and made snow angels."

[poorexample]

Just as Castiel had finished his inspection of the Tasty Burger, he was interrupted -- once again, by Gabriel. As much as Castiel had once entered Dean's space unannounced, Gabriel seemed to do the same to him now. Seeing how he had just seen his brother the night before, he had little idea of what they could talk about, and yet it was possible that Gabriel could give him some idea of how to approach this day in town.

Then again, if he asked he might just get unhelpful remarks in response.

Still, the first statement out of the archangel's mouth was enough to confuse Castiel. For a few seconds he only gave Gabriel a blank stare. Snow angels? He knew of every variety of angel, from cherub to archangel and all that stood between. A snow angel made no sense; they were not trained for certain climates.

Then again, there were angels of love that existed. Perhaps he shouldn't have been so surprised. No, it was more his own lack of knowledge that bothered him, especially since Gabriel had said that they could make these angels. Maybe it was some skill that was only available to higher-ranked divinities and therefore Castiel had never heard of it.

"What are snow angels?" he asked with a frown. "Also, it's imprudent of you to dismiss the second floor so quickly when you hardly got to see any of it." He wasn't foisting the blame onto anyone, but the lack of progress was certainly frustrating. "I also doubt the outside area would have allowed us to have any fun." He said the last word as if he hardly knew what it meant.

[affictitious]

While Gabriel would've normally attributed that silence to Castiel being... Castiel-y, the question made him realize that the buzzing sound he'd heard had been the slow turn of gears in Castiel's mind. How could someone who hung around with the Winchesters so much not understand a damn thing about humanity? Those two were walking You Don't Know Jacks.

... maybe that explained it.

"Imprudent? Really, Castiel? Is there anything about me that doesn't scream imprudent?" If you looked in the dictionary for the word imprudent... well, you'd see the definition of imprudent, but Gabriel's picture was implied there. Somewhere. He was totally in mind when the definition had been written.

"Look, you having fun is a logistic possibility, like dividing by zero. Me, on the other hand..." he shrugged with his usual smug smile. "Maybe one day you'll meet a snow angel, kid. You just gotta fall face-first and wiggle a bit."

[poorexample]

While Castiel was loath to admit it, Gabriel made a good point. Because Gabriel was, in many ways, the very opposite of any angel. He acted entirely on his own feelings and didn't allow logic or the mission to come into play. If he didn't think that the second floor was interesting enough, then he wouldn't go there. It was immensely aggravating, but there weren't many things about his brother that weren't.

And yet here he was, spending time with him despite that, because they were the only two angels in this place as far as he could tell. He held back a sigh, tuning out some of Gabriel's words because he realized they weren't going to make much sense to him either way. Snow angels or not, they were in this town and had to make something out of it.

"I've never been here before," he stated plainly. That was probably obvious already, but it was to make a point. "Where should we go first in order to gather some information?" Would the locals even speak with them? Dean had taught him about persuasion and questioning humans about a case, but he still wasn't very skilled at it.

It was also a large blow to his pride that he was now having to ask Gabriel for advice instead. It should have been Dean at his side, not his brother. And yet at the same time, he felt guilty for thinking that way about family.

[affictitious]

Well, if they were going to get some actual work done, Gabriel was willing to at least be somewhat serious. "We should call ourselves the Febreeze brothers, because it's feeling so fresh right now. Two angels, working together... man, I've been dreaming about this for the last millennium and a half." It was probably a damn good thing he was here, too. If their plan was to gather information, that involved talking to locals. He wasn't going to argue with it because it was a plan, and even this archangel wasn't stupid enough to discredit how important info was. He was stuck, Castiel was stuck, and they both had to make up for it in pretty human ways.

All right, and he also trusted Castiel wouldn't ever try to stab him in the heart. Trust issues came down hard when your favorite brother betrayed you.

"I haven't been here either. If we're going to play Horatio Caine and his Manchild Partner, somewhere with a lot of people - preferably drunk - is gonna be the best bet. Of course, information at a bar relies on either cash or the intent to murder someone, so that option might be out." He knew the ropes. Trolling bars was like, prime hunting. Those were for the occasions when he was bored out of his mind. Turning to Castiel with a considering look, he wrinkled his chin thoughtfully. "Your little plastic thing. How much money's on it?"

[poorexample]

Febreeze...? Wasn't that some sort of spray that made a room smell minty? Castiel had no idea what that had to do with two angels working alongside each other, since the concept wasn't that odd. It wasn't very common for an angel to work alone when going by Heaven's rules, but both he and Gabriel had moved away from those regulations, so perhaps it stood out in that way.

He was surprised by the following comment, however. Had Gabriel really been looking forward to this, or was he being facetious once more? Castiel eyed him for a moment, as if reading his brother's expression would somehow have the answer. But he should have known better than that.

Whether Gabriel was being genuine or not, they did need to get to work. Going to a bar sounded promising, as Castiel had noticed that humans tended to be more willing to speak the truth when they were inebriated. "I can at least give off that intent," he pointed out plainly, as if he was talking about getting a drink rather than possibly killing someone. Castiel would never actually do such a thing unless there was no other choice, but he did have the ability to be intimidating if necessary. Granted, their guards would hardly take that well, so perhaps it was best to leave it.

When asked about his credit card, Castiel took it from his jacket pocket and looked it over. "I'm still D rank, so it should be worth five dollars." It wasn't much, but he hardly wanted to squander it, either. What was worth buying?

However, at that point they passed a building on the right-hand side that was labeled "Sheriff's Office." This was the sort of place that Dean would have gone to question someone. He nodded toward it. "We should start there."

[affictitious]

Gabriel rolled his eyes at that look. "I can see you're thinkin' too hard about this, bro. Calm down before you have an aneurysm." Which was actually a legitimate concern right now, though Gabriel wasn't actually showing any. It was more likely Castiel would have a heart attack if something happened to one of the Winchesters or something, anyway. Or if a girl hit on him. Desperate times, lady and gentlemen. Desperate times even applied to women.

Ten dollars altogether wasn't going to get them anywhere in a bar, even if his brother was willing to donate it to the good bank of Get An Archangel Drunk. And, like, paying off the bartender or something. Man, he would never get used to this questioning thing. It was annoying.

He was open to suggestions, for the most part. Gabriel rubbed his chin, staring at the doors to the office. It was certainly a start, though he certainly doubted even the law enforcement agency of this town would be willing to help potential mental patients. He shrugged; either way, worth a shot. The plan was kind of shot when he tried to open the door and found it solidly locked.

Seriously? On a Saturday?

"I think that was literally the shortest-lived idea you've ever had."

[poorexample]

Castiel didn't feel as if he was thinking any harder than he was normally, but that was also because he didn't often stop thinking. There was always some angle to consider, some mystery to work through, some confusion about human life to attempt to understand. But if he spent too much time on all that he would be left in his brother's dust, and so he moved to follow after Gabriel and up the stairs to the door.

When it was locked, he stared for a moment in confusion, but even attempting to peer through the windows showed no signs of life in the office. How could a sheriff's office be closed? It wasn't as if people stopped committing crimes on weekends.

Castiel stood there stiffly, glancing to his brother when he spoke up. "I've never encountered something like this. Are offices like these allowed to close?" He glared at the door as if that would somehow make it open, but dwelling over it would only waste more time.

"It might be open later," he said, though that didn't answer the question of what to do right then. He stepped back onto the street and glanced down it, wondering what their next option could be.